


And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting

by TheWritingRaccoon158



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), I'm sure the whole Karasuno Volleyball team will be mentioned, M/M, So I won't tag everything to not spoil it, There will be a huge secret behind the plot!, There will be others - Freeform, Universe Alteration, but I don't quite know yet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-11
Updated: 2017-07-13
Packaged: 2018-11-12 15:14:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11164536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWritingRaccoon158/pseuds/TheWritingRaccoon158
Summary: “Tell me”, Hinata began, as he felt the tears knocking from behind his eyes, and he swallowed down a painful clump, “Why… when, exactly did you fell in love with me?”“Did you hit your head or something?”, Kageyama asked, but Hinata shook his head a moment later.“No, stupid”, he retorted, snuggling even more onto Kageyama, if physically possible. “Just wanted you to tell me a story.”“Fine”, Kageyama gave back a moment later, voice soft and comforting, “If you’re really in such a cheesy mood I tell you about… hm... oh, okay, about the first time I didn’t want to kill you immediately after you’d done something stupid.”EDIT: FYI, I changed the title into something more fitting!





	1. "Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling"

**Author's Note:**

> After undergoing the infamous 3AM inspiration-kick everyone kinda knows a story about the adorable Volleydorks slipped into my mind, and I wanted to write it down & share it (for now, the first chapter at least)...!  
> I'm still trying to figure out where this will lead, but I have a lot of ideas ♡(.◜ω◝.)♡
> 
> BEWARE: tiny mentions of a torn nail and maybe one or two drips of blood ahead ~(>_<~)
> 
> Edit: FYI, I changed the title because it was kinda trivial, and I like this quote from Edgar Allan Poe much, much more!  
> As always, english is not my first languagne, so please be gentle :)
> 
> |_・)

Hinata slowly opened his eyes.

Bright, shiny beams of sunlight shone right into his face, tinted in red and orange by the translucent curtains.

Hinata Shoujou was no morning person.

Hinata indeed was a morning person in the past, during his school time, but not anymore, not since work and life kicked his ass relentlessly, leaving him with way too much workload and less than enough sleep. He sighed, feeling his stomach twist uncomfortably thinking about work yet he hadn’t even put a foot outside the suddenly much too comfortable bedsheets.

He turned around, tried to protect his eyes from the sun with the back of his hand when a black hairline fell into his view. The soft looking strands of straight dark hair curled above a person’s nape, a person who currently seemed to be fast asleep, the blanket above his shoulders rising and falling with every deep, gurgling breath the other one took. Hinata could catch a glimpse of the persons exposed skin below a loose fitting blue shirt - skin which embraced a way-above-average amount of muscles, shaping the other one’s shoulders and arms in a way that made Hinata inhale sharply.

Scratch that. Hinata Shoujou was a morning person _right now_.

Hesitation accompanied his arms when he reached out to brush his fingers against the other one’s skin, pausing for a moment to savor the look for a moment longer, and suddenly the black haired man gave out a long, contented yawn, stretching his long, muscular arms before rolling onto his back, towards Hinata. Kageyama Tobio gave Hinata a questioning glance as soon as he noticed the other one still trying to grab something in the empty air.

“Hey hun”, Kageyama murmured, smiling gently through narrowed eyes, making Hinata’s heart skip a beat. “You want something?”

Hinata realized the awkward position of his arm, and with a blush crawling into his face he withdrew his hand, smiling unconsciously, realizing something the other one obviously had missed.

“No”, he replied, smile becoming conscious, widening, “I think I have everything I want.”

Kageyama raised him an eyebrow.

“Everything okay with you?” Even if Kageyama’s question came out somewhat defiant he lifted his hand to lay it upon Hinata’s shoulder, sneaking behind his back to pull the smaller man closer.

“Yeah”, Hinata hummed, smiling foolishly when he rested his face against Kageyama’s skin, inhaling the other one’s tantalizing smell, a mix of lavender, something dark, musky, and his very own body odor that made Hinata’s brain quit service for a moment. He nuzzled his face into the cloth above Kageyama’s defined chest, right below his collarbone while the taller one slid both of his arms around Hinata to pull him into a tight hug.

“Hey, is there a reason for you to be so touchy-feely today?”, Kageyama asked, voice accompanied by a hinted chuckle when Hinata’s fingers flew over the other one’s sides, trying to touch as much of his body as possible at once.

“I’m just happy”, Hinata cheered back, grinning broadly, and Kageyama let out a puff.

“Did yesterday’s alcohol short-circuit something inside your tiny brain?”, Kageyama mocked, squeezing the air out of Hinata’s small body.

“We were out drinking?”, Hinata asked Kageyama who gave back an irritated glance.

“Ah, now I get it”, Kageyama let out, “You and Yamaguchi did shots when we were getting something to eat.”

Hinata couldn’t remember. He wasn’t sure if he drank just one beer or a whole truckload of shots, but anyhow, he didn’t really care. But he didn’t want to raise suspicion, too. 

“Ow, you got me”, Hinata chirped back, showing Kageyama an apologizing smile. “But please, don’t tell Tsukki, he will be mad if he finds out.”

Kageyama nodded, fingers slowly caressing the curve of Hinata’s back, and the smaller boy stood silent for a moment, savored everything; every touch, every breath, every little gesture and motion Kageyama made, every gentle fingertip brushing over Hinata’s backside, and suddenly, he felt like crying.

The happy one, not the sad.

“Tell me”, Hinata began, as he felt the tears knocking from behind his eyes, and he swallowed down a painful clump, “Why… when, exactly did you fell in love with me?”

Kageyama’s hand brushing over Hinata’s back paused for a second, then he continued, slowly, seemingly sunken into thoughts. Hinata’s heart beat like a drum.

“Did you hit your head or something?”, Kageyama asked, but Hinata shook his head a moment later.

“No, stupid”, he retorted, snuggling even more onto Kageyama, if physically possible. The warmth that crawled under Hinata’s skin was alluring, and if he hadn’t wished for Kageyama to talk to him he could’ve fallen asleep in an instant. “Just wanted you to tell me a story.”

“Fine”, Kageyama gave back a moment later, voice soft and comforting, “If you’re really in such a cheesy mood I tell you about… hm... oh, okay, about the first time I didn’t want to kill you immediately after you’d done something stupid.”

Kageyama affectionately pinched Hinata’s waist and the smaller boy crept his hand inside the small gap between Kageyama’s shirt and the blanket, letting it rest above the other one’s firm stomach when he began telling him the story of how he fell in love with him.

 

* * *

 

 

 “Seriously, what’s wrong with you?”

Kageyama yelled at Hinata who tried to duck away from the other one’s fist, pouting at the taller boy.

“I fell asleep!”, Hinata mewled, defending himself against another slap coming from Kageyama.

“You should sleep at night, dumbass”, Kageyama replied angrily, but Hinata snorted loudly.

“Pah, you’re not better than me!”, Hinata shouted while catching up with his teammate’s fast step on their way towards the gym. “How many times did you fell asleep at school?”

“W-well, it happened”, Kageyama admitted, nudging Hinata through the school’s main building’s front door, “But not right before practice!”

Hinata wanted to retort something when suddenly the world shifted around him, and he sprawled down the floor, foot caught into a twisted root coming from the huge oak tree standing at the middle of the courtyard. Hinata pulled his aching foot out of the entanglement when a shadow hovered over him.

“How”, Kageyama hissed through clenched teeth, watching Hinata from above with an intimidating glare, “Tell me. How – can anyone be so dense to actually fall over – a – fucking – root?!”

Hinata could almost see steam coming out of Kageyama’s ears when he tried to lift himself up, only to fall back onto his butt, hissing again when a sharp pain jolted through his foot.

“D-did you hurt yourself?” Kageyama kneeled in front of Hinata, suddenly, _bizarrely_ very worried about the small decoy, and Hinata undid his shoe and sock to inspect his toes. His ankle was fine – thank god it was, Kageyama would kill him in an instant when he would hurt himself in a way that would force him to suspend practice – but his pinky toe seemed swollen, and its toenail was torn and bleeding.

“Owee”, Hinata whined, trying to bend his foot towards his face to inspect it further, but stopped when he realized he obviously wasn’t _that_ flexible with his limbs.

“Let me”, Kageyama demanded, snapping Hinata’s foot out of his hands, pulling the smaller one towards him, and Hinata blushed from head to toe – to his torn pinky toe, to be exact – when he realized that Karasuno’s prodigy, _the King of the Court_ , the ever so annoyingly flawless Kageyama Tobio was holding Hinata’s sweaty, frowzy foot between his hands, nose just a few inches away from the tip of his big toe.

“Doesn’t look like it’s broken”, Kageyama analyzed, angling Hinata’s foot uncomfortably. “But you should cool it. Dumbass.” Hinata felt a smile crawl upon his face, hearing Kageyama insult him like he wasn’t physically able to talk with Hinata without calling him names. “Maybe you should skip practice for today to not make it w-“

“No!”, Hinata intertwined, tried to pull his foot away, but Kageyama clenched at it instantly. “I won’t skip practice! Never! Only over my dead body!”

“That’s arrangeable”, Kageyama muttered, giving Hinata a deadpanned look. “If you like it or not, you should give it a rest.”

Hinata was about to respond something when his eyes wandered over Kageyama again, hands still clenching Hinata’s foot, and Hinata noticed how soft his fingers actually felt. _How soft his fingers felt!?_ Hinata gulped down a heavy clump, watching his Setter with widened eyes.

“B-but I don’t wanna…”, Hinata mewled like a child, eyeing the limb that dared to betray him in agony.

“But you will”, Kageyama replied, and Hinata glanced at him, pouting.

“You’re not my mum”, Hinata sneered, this time pulling his foot out of the other one’s hands, hissing when he bumped against the ground while putting on his sock. “Y-you wouldn’t even care about me as long as I’m useful for you on the court!”

Kageyama gave Hinata a surprised view, looked as if Hinata just had insulted his favorite movie, eyes narrowed and mouth pulled into a snoot.

“Stop talking about things you don’t know shit about”, Kageyama cursed, annoying Hinata even more.

“Oooh, touched a nerve hadn’t I?”, Hinata retorted provokingly, tired of Kageyama’s ever scolding but never helpful attitude. The two fellow first years watched each other like two hungry carnivores, each waiting for the other one to make his first move. Kageyama looked as if he seriously wanted to ram one of the trees scattered branches through Hinata’s heart when a painful _plop_ onto his head drew him out of his bloodlust. Confusion crawled into Kageyama’s face, peeking down towards the ground where a dark brown hazelnut came to a hold right next to his shoe. While Kageyama’s brain tried to assess why a freaking hazelnut would fall out of an oak tree his eyes flung back towards Hinata, and before he could even comment anything the smaller one’s mouth turned into a smile, snickering about the accidental disruption of their bickering. When Kageyama didn’t move an inch while Hinata giggled and snickered like a grade schooler the decoy already feared that his inadequate reaction might eventually be the final blow to Kageyama’s composure, but surprisingly a smile hushed over the other one’s face, tugging at the corners of Kageyama’s lips nearly noticeable.

Kageyama stood up, reaching out for Hinata to help him stand up.

“You’re not just expedient”, he admitted, coyly, more glancing towards the floor than Hinata, brushing over his neck with the palm of his hand. “I… just don’t want you to overexert yourself.”

Hinata gave Kageyama an estimating view while he cautiously shimmied into his shoe, ignoring the nascenting pain emitting from his pinky toe.

“Come on”, he eventually released the taller one from his embarrassing auxiliary apology, “Let’s go to practice before the captain busts our asses.”

Kageyama flinched, imagining Daichi’s grim glare and intimidating voice, following Hinata to the lockers.


	2. "Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing"

“It was your smile.”

Hinata examined his boyfriend, smiling thievishly.

“My smile, eh?”, he asked with raised eyebrows, and Kageyama, slightly blushing handed him a cup of freshly brewed coffee.

“Yeah, your smile, dumbass”, Kageyama retorted, sipping at his much too hot coffee just to do something instead of presenting his blushing cheeks to his grinning boyfriend. “That stupid snickering you always do. I don’t know why but that day it was different than before.”

Hearing the story Kageyama had told him Hinata felt the memory slowly crawl into his mind, gradually shaping an image that Hinata was able to grasp. He felt as if he had had forgotten a bad dream, and a weird, unexplainable discomfort would accompany him through the day until the moment he saw something connected to his dream, and everything rushed back into his mind, always been there but forgotten, repressed. As if he had just needed one tiny piece of memory from Kageyama to fill the puzzle on his own, to piece it together by shaping the missing puzzle tiles himself.

Hinata watched his significant other preparing a light breakfast, broad shoulders obscuring Hinata’s view – not that he would complain. The loose shirt Kageyama was wearing flattered his waist and hip in a way Hinata’s mind couldn’t quite process. He wanted to bury his fingers into the cloth, wanted to slide his palms over the firm, slightly tanned skin, wanted to lick over the salty dry skin until his mouth would be drained, wanted to –

“Oi, wake up, I talked to you.”

A cluttering plate found its way beneath Hinata’s nose, filled with toast and eggs and some fried vegetables.

“I – I just – sorry, but your shirt…”

Kageyama glanced downwards, raising Hinata an eyebrow.

“I know I wore it yesterday”, Kageyama remarked, sitting down opposite of Hinata at their wooden kitchen table, “Don’t worry, I’ll change before I go out.”

“That’s not what I meant”, Hinata blurted out, eyeing Kageyama while poking around his vegetables. “It… you look… good, I mean…”

Much to his embarrassment Hinata noticed a smile tugging Kageyama’s lips upwards. The taller one’s hand darted towards Hinata’s unoccupied one, intertwining their fingers.

“Anyways”, Kageyama helped Hinata out of his misery, smirking at the smaller boys reddening cheeks, “I was about to tell you about today’s plans.”

“Today’s… plans?” Hinata would be lying if he pretended to know about what Kageyama was talking about, but he sensed that the other one wasn’t simply talking about shopping groceries after work.

“Aw, owkway”, Kageyama responded, mouth stuffed with his breakfast, “Sho you were sherioush abouwt letting me shurprishe you.”

“Y-yeah, I was”, Hinata gave back, gladly using Kageyama’s fit occasion to hide that he really didn’t knew what was so special about today’s plans.

“Then I drop by around four in the afternoon”, Kageyama explained after swallowing down the huge clump of food. Hinata nodded, hoping that he would find out eventually about what Kageyama was talking about as the day passes by. The taller one shoved the rest of his food down his throat, and while Hinata was busy following suit Kageyama walked into their bedroom, rummaged through his closet and changed his clothing. Hinata had difficulties to not drop his plate when he noticed Kageyama’s shirtless, well defined chest and abdomen from afar, and the urge to jump at him and tackling him onto the bed bubbled up inside his heated, currently short-circuiting head. Hinata shook his head violently when Kageyama casually stripped out of his pants, now standing with only his nice fitting underwear in front of his open closet, hand brushing over his chin while deciding what to wear. In their _shared apartment_. In their _shared bedroom_. Next to their _shared bed_. Hinata’s heart leapt against his chest, and he was sure that, if there were a few more occasions like this one his heart would join his already melting brain in a joined vacation.

“You should change, too”, Kageyama remarked a moment later, now dressed into a blue shirt and a sweater, combined with an old, worn-out jeans. “I mean, it’s your store, but you shouldn’t go there without real pants.” Hinata glanced towards his stained sweatpants, grinning broadly.

“Yeah, I don’t think the customers would take me serious like this”, Hinata replied, hoping that he would actually _have_ customers. Kageyama leaned towards the smaller man, nose hovering just an inch away from Hinata’s, taking his breath away for a second.

“Ha, no one will ever take you seriously even if you’d work in suits and tie”, Kageyama mocked with a cheeky smile, and Hinata showed him a humorous pout in return. Hinata’s heart flinched a second time when Kageyama gave him a gentle kiss on the nose, a much too tender gesture for the usually much too self-absorbed Kageyama. Hinata slipped past the taller boy, beelined towards their bedroom to search for something to wear, too, using the moment to soothe his nerves. He soon made a find, deciding for a casual attire consisting of a simple white shirt, combined with a dark jeans, as he didn’t quite know yet for what _exactly_ he should get dressed. When he stepped out of the bedroom Kageyama was already tying his shoes, bag thrown over his shoulder, keys dangling between his lips. The moment he saw Hinata he stopped for a moment, slowly raising himself up, key plopping down to the floor.

“What’s wrong?”, Hinata asked, eyes darting down towards his clothes. “Not good?”

“No”, Kageyama replied, gesturing the smaller one to approach him, and when Hinata was close enough Kageyama flung his arms around Hinata’s waist, pulling him tightly onto his body. “It’s just… you know when you wore this shirt the first time?”

Hinata shook his head slightly. “How would I?”, he asked, quizzically, “This is just a white shirt, I have a dozen white shirts.”

“I remember this one”, Kageyama replied, fingertips brushing over Hinata’s back, making the smaller one shiver in excitement, “It has a stain, here.” He pointed towards a small blue dot at the collar, washed out but still visible, “I would distinguish this among thousand others.”

“B-but why…?”, Hinata asked, eyes big and mind dizzy, being examined by his boyfriend with such an intensity.

“Hm…”, Kageyama hummed, gently rocking Hinata in his arms, “Do you want me to tell you another story?”

Upon hearing this Hinata’s eyes darted towards Kageyama’s steel blue ones. “Yeah.”

Kageyama showed him a sly smirk.

“I could do that”, he began, intense blue eyes resting upon Hinata, “… but only for a kiss.”

Hinata blushed instantly, _hard_ , the heat crawling into his face like he had just ate the world’s spiciest chili pepper, eyes flinching away from his cunning significant other.

“What?”, Kageyama asked, and even if Hinata wasn’t seeing his face he could almost hear his cheeky smile, “You’re shy all of a sudden?”

“N-no…”, Hinata retorted, knowing that his behavior at least _should_ be different, not repellent but indeed approving, but the thought of kissing Kageyama made his insides twist painfully. Hinata’s heart hammered inside his chest when he suddenly felt Kageyama’s breath right next to his ear, hot and sharp.

“You don’t have to act that timid”, he breathed into Hinata’s ear, “We already did way more dirty things li –“

“Bah-bah! Stop it!”, Hinata squawked, face red like a whole field of tomatoes, but Kageyama gave out a huffed laugh and pressed the smaller boy closer towards his body. “I-it’s too early in the morning to talk about such things”, Hinata poorly excused his behavior, and Kageyama let out another amused giggle. “Please, just… tell me the story.”

“Ah, right”, Kageyama agreed, propping his chin upon Hinata’s head. “So, the first time you wore this shirt…”

 

* * *

 

 

“I can’t believe it”, Hinata whined, looking down his brand new, white shirt – except that it wasn’t white anymore, but decorated with a huge, prominent blotch of blue ink. “I got this just yesterday…”

“Quit exaggerating”, Kageyama snorted, striding down the hallway next to Hinata, trying to outpace the other one who would eventually catch up with him, nevertheless. “You have a dozen white shirts.”

“But this was new!”, Hinata retorted, watching the ruined piece of cloth like the  sheer act of staring at it would help him clean it somehow. “How do I explain this to my mother…?”

Kageyama accelerated his pace, hoping that Hinata would eventually realize that he was rather unwelcome right now, but – let’s be serious, it’s Hinata he was thinking about, naïve, clueless Hinata, always chitchatting about anything and nothing, clinging onto Kageyama’s shirt sleeve, if the taller one wanted it or not.

“It wasn’t even my fault”, Hinata explained unsolicited, pouting at the remembrance of lending his flask of ink to a classmate only to get it back with loose lid, pouring the contents all over his shirt and desk. “Ah, and now I need new ink, too!”

Kageyama let out an annoyed puff, startling Hinata who finally let go of his stained shirt.

“Why do you always have to bug me with such trivial bullshit?”, Kageyama asked, eyeing the small decoy with a bugged glance. Hinata, whose brain was still busy with crying over the spilt ink blurted out the first thing that came to his mind.

“And why do you always have to be such an ass?”, Hinata mumbled nearly audible, face turned away from Kageyama, but he flinched as soon as he realized that the other one had heard him, anyways.

“What?”, Kageyama snarled, and Hinata took a huge step away from the taller, obviously much stronger one.

“I – I didn’t mean it –“ Hinata retracted, but Kageyama interjected, fists clenched and eyes turned to slits.

“Listen, _dumbass_ ”, Kageyama stated, stern as if dumbass was Hinata’s actual name, “I neither have time nor the nerves to listen to your stupid, irrelevant shit twenty-four-seven, got it? So quit your babbling and don’t talk to me anymore unless it’s about volleyball.”

Hinata showed Kageyama a pout, who turned on the spot to continue wandering down the hallway through a mass of students talking and laughing with each other, the broody setter sticking out of the cheery masses like a bat in a cage full of hummingbirds. Hinata didn’t get it. Why way Kageyama so angry? Normally, Hinata could chirp and gibber to his heart’s content, and Kageyama would endure it nearly without interrupting, but… something was off, Hinata could sense that.

But why?

“Kageyama, wait!” Hinata shouted through the hallway, making some by-standing students flinch, then he ran towards his fellow setter, reaching him just in front of a staircase. Kageyama didn’t waste another syllable by asking _why the heck_ Hinata was calling out to him, so he stood quiet, glancing at the small decoy.

“No, I don’t get it”, Hinata stated, huffing slightly while remaining a steadfast, but slightly shivering posture, “Tell me why you’re so angry all of a sudden.”

“I – I’m not...! It’s not all of a sudden!”, Kageyama stuttered, defensive, “I’m always angry at you! Kind of…”

“Not like this”, Hinata retorted, proudly noticing the other’s defense breaking. Kageyama’s eyes darted around for a second, faintly noticing the students who shot them a quick glance, and for a moment Kageyama realized that, for an outsider this banter would maybe seem like a full-fledged domestic quarrel. Hinata, obviously oblivious to this fact, stood at the topmost stair with a serious look upon his face while Kageyama took a step backwards, down the staircase.

“Did I do something wrong?”, Hinata asked, more cautious, facial features relaxing a bit, and wearing a worrying frown upon his forehead. Kageyama shook his head after a moment of hesitation.

“No”, he answered, “No, you did nothing. In fact, I –“

Kageyama wasn’t able to finish his sentence when he saw in the corner of his eye someone was walking much too close to Hinata, and Kageyama’s hands were outstretched yet even before the small, orange-haired ball of sunshine was falling down the staircase without anything to hold on, sinking straight into Kageyama’s arms, hanging heavy in between his hands like a wet towel. Kageyama was in loss for words, looking down to Hinata whose eyes darted up towards his fellow teammate, visualizing the situation they got themselves into. Not that it was Hinata’s fault, though. The small decoy felt the heat shooting into his ears, much to his embarrassment, not really able to grasp why this situation made him feel that special kind of uneasiness. And if his feral instinct wasn’t betraying him he could read that exact same feeling out of Kageyama’s steel blue, confused eyes.

While the ability to talk was pushed out of Kageyama completely Hinata stammered a few letters before giving up, trying to maintain his balance while he pushed himself backwards, out of Kageyama’s tight grasp. The two shared a few chaste glances before Kageyama took the initiative, nodding slightly toward where he thought the gym might be situated (of course, it was the complete opposite direction Hinata thought with a mental smirk).

“Let’s just go”, Kageyama mumbled, previous argument vanished into thin air, and Hinata agreed, legs wobbly and mind bursting with colors while he followed the setter down the stairs and to the gym.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized I'm really bad with tenses, sorry! (o_ _)o


	3. "While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping"

“Why did we even argue permanently?”, Hinata joked when he walked down the stairs behind Kageyama, holding his boyfriend’s fingers loosely in his own.

“I don’t know”, Kageyama replied, smiling at this remembrance, “But I kinda know now why I was angry at you that time.”

Hinata nearly bumped into Kageyama when the taller one stopped his descend, turning towards the smaller one.

“I guess I was just… torn”, he explained then, eyes propped upon their connected hands as if they had a cheat sheet for him to use. “I knew I had those… weird feelings for you since the day when you tore your toe.”

“Aw”, Hinata hummed, grin drawn on his face, “so the pubertal Kageyama Tobio was confused!” Hinata empathized the last word like he was straight out of some cheesy telenovela, and Kageyama squeezed his cheek painfully before dragging him further down the stairs.

“If it helps you, I kinda felt the same”, Hinata remarked with a smirk, following his boyfriend through the front door.

“My teenage-self would’ve liked to hear that”, Kageyama replied, using the automatic key to unlock his car. “Get inside, or I’ll leave without you.”

“You wouldn’t dare!”, Hinata bleated with a scandalized face, and Kageyama cocked his eyebrow.

“Wouldn’t be the first time”, the raven-haired man muttered, and now it was Hinata’s turn to cock an eyebrow.

When they had been driving for about ten minutes (and Hinata found his pleasure in switching the music channels approximately every 0.5 seconds in search for something good to listen to) Kageyama caught Hinata’s attention, again.

“I could tell you another story”, he stated, and Hinata lowered the music’s volume, giving his boyfriend a quizzed look.

“You’re pretty talkative today”, Hinata stated, side-eyeing Kageyama while he tried to assess when the awkward setter had become an acceptable member of the conversable society.

“I’m in the mood”, Kageyama hummed, staying silent for a moment to concentrate upon driving over a big, highly frequented crossroad.

“Okay”, Hinata said, making himself comfortable in his seat, “Go on.”

“Well, this story is about a dumbass middle blocker and his good-looking, genius setter, trapped in their high school’s gym without any chance to escape from each other.”

“Bakageyama”, Hinata nagged, rolling his eyes. “Stop inventing things!”

“Do you want me to continue or not?”, Kageyama asked with a broad grin while taking a sharp turn, carefully merging his car with the others joining the highway.

“If you tell the story the right way”, Hinata demanded, not really knowing what might eventually be the right way this story had to be told.

“Alright, I will”, Kageyama told, showing Hinata a smile so tender and affectionate (and not to mention so, so _attractive_ ) that Hinata was sure there might be a penalty for something like this in another country. “So, there was this boy”, Kageyama began, eyes pinned to the road, “he was… really awkward, and unsocial, but one day he met this squawking little guy, and together they were the best duo their high school volleyball team ever had. And one day, after their occasional prolonged training session, hm… somehow, neither of them knew why, they got themselves trapped inside their gym…”

 

* * *

 

 

“You sure you didn’t lock the doors?” Kageyama glanced at Hinata, ready to choke the obnoxious little shit, and Hinata backed away from the setter with a gasp.

“I don’t even have the key!”, Hinata mewled, eyes turned to slits, a volleyball dangling in between his tiny hands. “You were supposed to lock the doors!”

“Then I wouldn’t ask you about the key, dumbass!”, Kageyama spit back, arms crossed before his chest, giving Hinata a devastating look. Then he sighed, trying to maintain at least a bit of composure. “Do you… know if there’s a back door?”

Hinata tipped his chin onto the ball between his hands, racking his little brain. “I don’t know… Do you know a back door?”

“I – was asking you - just - this!”, Kageyama barked back, stupefied from the unabashed idiocy coming from Hinata. “Just look for one while I try to unlock the front door.”

“Okay”, Hinata cheered unperturbed, hopping towards the backside storage rooms, occasionally lifting a volleyball and flicking his palms against it, and Kageyama had to use each and every fiber of his remaining restraint to not kill Hinata on the spot.

 

An hour later it was settled.

It was half past eleven, on a rainy autumn day, and Hinata and Kageyama were trapped inside the third gym, without their phones or any possible option to call for help. And, most surprisingly, there was no sign of anyone who might miss them by now, especially their parents.

Kageyama sighed, flopping down onto the mattresses in the storage room, dimly lit through the wall bars by the gym’s bright ceiling lights. Hinata sat right beside him, clearly worried but not anywhere as annoyed as Kageyama was by the situation. Suddenly, Hinata giggled silently.

“What’re you laughing about?”, Kageyama sneered, side-eyeing his giggling freak-quick-partner.

“It’s just funny”, Hinata replied, rolling a volleyball between his fingers, sitting straddle-legged on the neighboring mattress like a grade schooler, “Being here with you alone, I mean.”

Kageyama immediately felt heat crawling into his ears. “W-what do you mean by that?”

“Hm?” Hinata looked at Kageyama, and the setter turned his face towards the floor to not let Hinata see his confusion. “Oh, it’s like an overnight stay, I mean.”

Kageyama could nothing but smile dumbfounded about this rather stupid comparison. “You’re really easy to please, Hinata.”

“You don’t think it could be cool?”, Hinata asked with a certain kind of childish emphasis, and Kageyama had to choke back a laugh. “We could tell each other ghosts stories, and gossip about the girls, and –“

“You’re acting like a grade schooler”, Kageyama replied, trying to sound more cool than he felt, crossing his arms behind his head and staring at the storage room’s ceiling.

“I’d always done this with Natsu”, Hinata stated, and Kageyama faintly remembered that the girl was Hinata’s little sister.

“Must be… nice, having siblings”, Kageyama told before he even knew what words had left his mouth, and when he already feared that Hinata would make fun of him the red-headed boy remained silent, rolling the ball through his fingers with a slight smile upon his face. Kageyama watched the other one for a moment, savoring that he could examine the usually energetic ball now sitting silent, calm, somewhat… peaceful.

Another heat wave crouched into Kageyama’s face, and he yanked his head away, a bit too fast for it to feel comfortable.

“Do you want to practice more?”, Hinata asked after a while, showing Hinata the volleyball as if Kageyama wouldn’t know what the little one meant without the visual explanation.

“Nah”, Kageyama replied, and Hinata let out an exasperated gasp. “Don’t look so surprised, I’m kinda spent for today.”

“The great Kageyama Tobio is too tired to play volleyball!”, Hinata said playfully, showing Kageyama his gaping mouth, then he hopped down from his mattress and bent down to touch the floor, earning a puzzled look from Kageyama. “Hell must’ve been frozen for this to happen!” Hinata showed Kageyama a broad grin and straightened up again.

“Stop this crap”, Kageyama muttered not without a smirk, eyes falling close the more relaxed he got. _Being trapped inside somewhere could be much worse than this_ he thought, _at least we would be the first ones to morning practice_.

_… I really need to sort my priorities._

“The tests this week really got me wasted.”

“Yeah, the literature test was torturous”, Hinata remarked, nervously striding through the room until he eventually decided to plop down next to Kageyama, brushing his elbows with his fluffy hair.

“H-hey dumbass”, Kageyama protested with a pout, “go get your own mattress.”

“I don’t want to be alone”, Hinata stated, sounding more like his grade school sister than like an actual high schooler.

“And I don’t want to cuddle with you”, Kageyama retorted, trying to ignore the hot knot building inside his guts.

“We don’t have to c-cuddle!”, Hinata bloated out directly into Kageyama’s ear, making the taller one flinch. “I just… don’t want to be so far away from you.”

Kageyama inhaled, long, deep, trying to calm his senses. “Fine”, he finally admitted, relaxing his muscles he didn’t notice that were tensed since Hinata had been so close.

Soon after Kageyama fell into a shallow slumber, only woken up by the heavy rain pouring hard onto the small window above his head. Suddenly Kageyama felt how chilly the gym was without that many sweaty bodies inside, and he had to rub over his arms to warm up. He looked around the room, noticed a worn-out blanket sticking out under some other training tools, wondering why someone might need a blanket in here. _Maybe as an emergency for some poor fools deciding to get themselves trapped in the gym_ he thought with a silent chuckle, cautiously lifting himself up without waking the snoring Hinata, getting the blanket and pulling it out from under the equipment while almost burying himself under them. _Karasuno’s genius setter found slayed by training equipment_ he mused, carrying the blanket back to their shared mattress, wrapping the old, somewhat stuffy piece of cloth above Hinata before slipping under it himself.

Lying like this felt absolutely weird, much too intimate, and, assumed that someone might find the like this in the morning, utterly frightening. But… seeing Hinata, snoring like a domesticated boar and drooling onto the mattress somehow made Kageyama smile absently. What it would feel like waking up besides someone so disgustingly unabashed but the same time undeniably sweet...?

Kageyama had to almost slap his own cheek thinking about this weird stuff. Hinata was sweet? Was there someone dispersing dangerous chemicals into the gym? Why the heck did this thought crouch through Kageyama’s sleep-deprived brain? With a groan he turned on the spot, presenting the drooling redhead his backside, drifting back into his shallow, dreamless sleep a while later.


	4. "Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning"

“And”, Kageyama finished his story, “the worst was that Tanaka had caught us cuddling the next morning, and he took a photo they gifted me on our first anniversary.”

“We were actually cuddling?”, Hinata chuckled, watching how Kageyama drove the car into a parking spot.

“Nah, not really”, Kageyama replied, smiling exerted, “You... had just grabbed my wrist, and your leg was somehow draped around my hip - but everyone knows you’re moving more in your sleep like in the back row on the court.”

“Smooth”, Hinata replied, “Insulting my abilities on the court _and_ telling me a story.”

For a brief, barely noticeable moment Kageyama looked at Hinata with a weird mix of hurt and remorse, and Hinata made a small mental note to himself to find out about what the other one might have been thinking about. “So… where’re we?”

“You don’t know your own shop anymore?”, Kageyama asked, motioning to something to the right of Hinata, and what the red-headed former middle blocker saw conjured a blissful smile on his face.

Right behind the car’s window stood a colorful, small flower shop, with green window frames and a bright yellow sunflower as emblem stuck onto the front. A neat, earth-colored chair and a table stood in front of the tall windows, decorated with colorful bouquets, and the shop’s inside seemed even more appealing.

Hinata was very busy admiring his workplace when he felt a pair of soft lips pressed against his cheek.

“See you at four?”, Kageyama asked, backing away, casually starting the car’s engine anew while Hinata fought back a persistent blush.

“Y-yeah”, the smaller one replied, then he hopped out of the car and watched Kageyama drive away until he was out of sight. Hinata turned back towards the flower shop, hoping that his fingers might tell him how to handle the fragile flowers.

“Hinata!”, a cheery but slightly strained voice from the back of the store chimed through the fragrant room, and when Hinata recognized the man greeting him so eagerly he could nothing but smile relieved. “Hinata, good that you’re here”, Yamaguchi stated, looking awfully tired despite his cheery attitude, and Hinata remembered that they apparently had been out drinking the night before. _With Kageyama and Tsukishima. Huh, who would’ve guessed they would be friends?_ “We’re almost out of Chrysanths, and I don’t know when the next shipment arrives.”

“Oh!”, Hinata gave out, realizing after seconds of blank staring that Yamaguchi’s expectant look seemed to mean that actually Hinata was in charge of their orders, “I’ll look into it, promise.”

“That’s great”, Yamaguchi replied, staggering slightly when he turned on the spot a bit too fast, eyes clenched and holding his forehead with his hand. “We still have to make a few bouquet’s for today’s customer, you know, the fancy wedding arrangements.”

“When will they come grab ‘em?”, Hinata asked, walking towards the preparation area, hoping that his hands would eventually guide his movements intuitionally.

“In the afternoon, about three? The lady on the telephone sounded even more stressed than my mother on Christmas eve with my grandparents”, Yamaguchi replied, lifting his palm from his aching head, slowly collecting flowers and decorative grasses from their stash under the table, and Hinata followed suit as good as he was able to, but watching Yamaguchi’s quick fingers seemed to shake more and more memories out of his brain, moving his hands nearly automatically. He suppressed a high pitched cheer when he realized that his finished bouquet was indeed fine to look at. _Maybe just a tad bit more Panicum…_

“Ah, that’s why you own the place”, Yamaguchi said, returning back from cashing in a customer, continuing with assembling another bouquet while admiring Hinata’s work with sparkling eyes. “Mine are always so… plain.”

“You’re kidding?”, Hinata said, puffing, placing his bouquet in a vase next to the other ones, “I think you have a pretty neat eye for color assemblies!”

“Thanks”, Yamaguchi said after a moment of dull gawking, smiling slightly while fiddling a green band around some ferns. “By the way, Hinata... what are you two doing tonight?”

Hinata almost dropped his flowers. Mentioning and thinking about the things he was allowed to do with Kageyama (and, for obvious reasons, had apparently done a multitude of times, already) still made Hinata’s spine tingle with excitement. Not to mention that Hinata didn’t even know what exactly made tonight’s night _so_ special. “W-why are you asking?”

“Ah, if you won't tell me, I won't pressure it”, Yamaguchi replied, dreamily examining a bright, lush rose twirling between his fingertips. Hinata continued binding flowers together, mind drifting off to what might happen tonight, what Kageyama might have planned for the two of them, and _why_ he had planned it. Only when Yamaguchi let out a quiet giggle Hinata’s mind returned back to the present.

“Did I do something funny?”, Hinata asked, watching a customer casually walking through their store, examining some single flowers and bouquets.

“No”, Yamaguchi replied, smiling contently, “I just thought seeing you happy like this makes me believe you never regretted quitting volleyball.”

This was something no one had to tell Hinata a story about. He remembered the day his sporting career began to dissolve gradually vividly before his mind’s eye; his fall, the pain, the doctor’s notice… Everything was just going downhill from that day onwards, and it wasn’t even a big match, one where he could have been the tragic hero, getting injured by helping his team to win the nationals or such. It was just an ordinary day, and an ordinary quick, and Hinata left the field as an ordinary guy with an ordinary sprained ankle.

“I’m sorry”, Yamaguchi cautiously intervened, “I didn’t want to open wounds.”

“It’s fine, really”, Hinata said, because actually it _was_ fine, being here like this, crafting bouquets and awaiting an awesome night with his significant other. Maybe it wasn’t something Hinata’s volleyball-crazed high school-self would have anticipated, but it wasn’t very bad either.

Really, Hinata knew it could be worse.

“Can you… tell me about that day?”, Hinata asked anyway, cautiously, making some cosmetic changes on the finished bouquets.

“Hm? Weren’t you there kinda first row?”, Yamaguchi asked, cocking his eyebrow, and Hinata gulped down his nerves.

“I want to hear the story from an outsider’s view.”, Hinata answered, not turning around to look at Yamaguchi to avoid his friend’s questioning gaze.

“Okay”, Yamaguchi said, “if you really want it, I try to remember as much as I can…”

 

* * *

 

 

“Hinata, one more time!”

Tanaka’s strident encouragement from the left let a huge portion of pride flow through the small middle blocker. It was just a practice match against Shinzen, somewhere around July of Hinata’s second year. Karasuno was about to lose the set, but Hinata didn’t care; his spikes seemed perfect, so absolutely in sync with the tosses he got from Kageyama, and winning the game would only be the cherry on top of the cake. Today this wasn’t about winning or losing, it was about synchronizing, about working as a team (especially with the new first years), getting even stronger for the real matches to come. Hinata felt light-headed, and somehow, quicker, faster, and as if he could jump even higher.

There it was, a deep flying fall from Noya, raising the ball high up in the air, straight into Kageyama’s hands. He tossed it, fingers merely brushing the ball, and half a second later Hinata was there, above the blockers, banging the ball straight onto an unoccupied spot, making another point for his team. Hinata was about to pump his fist still mid-air, but the moment he touched the ground something felt kinda off. A sharp pain shot through his ankle, and before Hinata could hold onto anything he fell sideways, knees giving in to the stabbing pain emitting from his foot.

“Hinata!”, Ennoshita, the newly designated captain kneeled down besides the small decoy, worry written all over his timid features.

“M-my foot”, Hinata choked out, slipping out of his shoe and sock to inspect the bruised limb. Absently Hinata saw Yachi leaning down, examining Hinata’s injury while she rummaged through her first-aid-kit, obviously not finding whatever she was looking for.

“Does it look bad?”, Hinata asked, and despite knowing that this didn’t feel like a simple bruise he wanted to hear the opposite from her. The worried look she shared with Coach Ukai was more an answer than anything she could have said.

“I can’t find my cooling gel”, Yachi stated at a loss for other words, not looking at Hinata in fear he might see the desperation inside her eyes. Out of the corner of his eyes Hinata noticed Kageyama, standing in front of the net, avoiding to even look at Hinata, but one could see that he was clearly distressed, brows furrowed and violently squeezing an innocent ball between his hands.

“It’s best for you to rest in the lockers for now”, Coach Ukai ordered in loss for another solution, then he turned towards the dark haired setter, “Kageyama, you accompany him.”

“W-what?”, Kageyama protested, but Ukai shook his head.

“No complaining”, the coach intervened, “it’s time to introduce Ishida to the court, anyways.”

The mentioned boy, a first year self-proclaimed setter jerked from the bench as if someone had shot him, looking at coach Ukai wide-eyed but nodded a moment later.

“Come on, get up”, Kageyama demanded with a harsh voice, holding his hand out for Hinata to grab, and with the help of an equally worried Tanaka the middle blocker stood up, careful to avoid bruising his foot even more, and, with a last look at a clearly distressed Yachi Hinata hopped towards the lockers, holding onto Kageyama who had slung his arm around Hinata’s chest to support him.

The moment he plopped down on one of the benches in the locker he carefully inspected his torn foot, sighing soundly while Kageyama strode restlessly around the room, dark blue eyes filled with anger and sorrow simultaneously.

“Why did you even fall?”, Kageyama asked, a tad too harsh.

“I didn’t do it on purpose”, Hinata gave back with a pout, touching the already swollen area around his ankle, holding back a pained hiss.

“…Does it hurt?” Kageyama watched his precious freak-quick-partner, tried to assess what one would expect from a normal social being.

“Of course, Bakageyama”, Hinata retorted, and Kageyama wanted to give back a snarky remark when something caught his eye.

“Hm? What this?”

Hinata watched the setter picking up something from another bench, and when Kageyama took a seat next to Hinata the smaller one gave him a puzzled look.

“Yachi must’ve lost this”, Kageyama murmured, showing Hinata a tube of cooling gel, and Hinata’s eyes widened.

“Can you…?”, Hinata began, nodding towards his foot, and Kageyama felt a blush creep into his ears.

“Are you daft?”, the setter mewled, quirking his eyebrows. “Of course not.”

“Pleeease”, Hinata whined, showing Kageyama his big puppy eyes, and after a tense moment without taking a single breath the setter finally nodded, sighing loudly.

“Fine”, he stated, uncapping the tube and pouring some of the cool content onto his fingers while Hinata lifted his foot to rest right in front of Kageyama. “But don’t complain when it hurts, get it?”

Hinata nodded with bright, wide-opened puppy-eyes, examined Kageyama slowly, cautiously applying the soothing liquid onto Hinata’s already swollen and bloodshot ankle, drawing small circles with his thumbs around the bony structures.

“You really have a thing for my feet”, Hinata snickered, examining Kageyama’s fingers with curious glances.

“Shut up, idiot”, Kageyama replied, tried to remain his disapproving demeanor but could not hide a smirk. “I have to do this just because _you’re_ too stupid to move properly.”

Hinata stood quiet for a while, watched how Kageyama poured another amount of cooling gel in his hands, rubbing it in until Hinata’s eyes fell close, enjoying how the pain began to subside just for a moment. Kageyama’s gaze wandered upwards, examining Hinata’s shinbone, then his knee, bruised and scarred from their excessive training. Kageyama faintly noticed that Hinata’s eyes were still closed shut, and he could nothing but notice the bright, fluffy hair on Hinata’s upper leg, visible up until the point where his shorts began. Kageyama absentmindedly let his hands wander up his calf, over Hinata’s soft skin coating the smaller one’s firm leg muscles, and slowly, carefully, Kageyama’s hands crept upwards, making Hinata chuckle when the setter reached the crook of his knee, tickling the smaller one with his touches. Half a moment later Kageyama’s fingers brushed the seam of Hinata’s pants, and that was the moment the smaller one’s eyes plopped open, cheeks flushed and mouth gaping open a bit.

“What are you…”, Hinata began quietly, looking at the setter’s hands precariously, panting just slightly, making Kageyama’s breathing rise.

“Just… I…”, Kageyama tried, but no coherent words left his mouth, instead he leaned down, towards Hinata’s bent knee, brushing over the thin, fuzzy hairs with his breath, and in the corner of his eyes Kageyama noticed that Hinata had his hands bailed into fists, looking at his setter with wide-blown pupils. Kageyama was just a breath away from placing a kiss against Hinata’s knee, when the locker’s door was yanked open and both boys snapped apart so quickly Kageyama’s neck cramped.

“Hinata!”, Yachi squealed, eyes fuzzy and filled with tears, following their coach into the locker, flinching when she realized that this was indeed the boy’s locker room.

“Does it still hurt?”, coach Ukai asked, eyeing Hinata’s foot, fumbling around his pockets in search for his phone. “We should take you to a physician, just in case.”

Hinata nodded, side-eyeing Kageyama nervously.

“Ah, there’s my cooling gel”, Yachi blurted out, grabbing the tube, “Why was it here?”

“Dunno”, Kageyama simply gave back, mind too occupied with what had nearly happened a moment ago. “T’was laying here on the bench.”

“Huh, That's weird…”, Yachi murmured, nestling on the Tube’s rolled-up edge with nervous fingers, not noticing the brief, shy glanced the setter and his decoy threw at each other.


End file.
